System and method for controlling financial transactions over a wireless network

ABSTRACT

A system and method for controlling financial transactions is disclosed. A customer, using a wireless device, identifies a point of sale and the amount of a transaction at that point of sale is first communicated to a central service and then transmitted to the wireless device for display at the wireless device. The customer can either accept the transaction amount to complete the transaction or reject the amount to cancel the transaction. The customer may have to enter a password or personal identification number to verify the authorization to use the wireless financial system. The customer is billed for the transaction via credit, debit, ATM or other methods, such as the wireless carrier or an internet provider.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/405,312,filed Apr. 17, 2006, now U.S Pat. No. 7,711,100 which is a divisional ofapplication Ser. No. 08/997,489, filed Dec. 23, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No.7,167,711, both of which are incorporated by reference herein. Theseapplications are commonly assigned.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to wireless telephone networks, and moreparticularly to a system and method for coordinating financialtransactions via a wireless telephone network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many point of sale locations, such as grocery stores and gas stations,have systems which allow customers to complete their purchases using acredit card or debit card. These systems typically have an electroniccard reader or swipe device which reads data, such as accountinformation, from the customer's card. After reading data from the card,the system presents a series of menus which prompt the customer foradditional information, such as a password or personal identificationnumber (PIN). The transaction is completed and the sale is finalizedafter the system verifies the customer's authority to use the card andafter the customer verifies the transaction amount.

In a grocery store setting, the point of sale credit (debit) card deviceis usually in communication with the check-out registers. This systemallows customers to pay for groceries without using cash or checks.Instead, the system bills the transaction to the credit card ortransfers funds from customers' bank accounts to the merchant's bankaccount. If a debit card is used, then customers often have the optionof obtaining cash from the clerk in addition to paying for theirpurchases.

Some point of sale locations, such as gas station pumps, allow customersto complete credit card or debit card transactions on their own, withoutthe need for a clerk. Typically, customers have the option of eitherpaying the gas station clerk or using a credit or debit card to pay atthe pump. The customer is able to activate the pump simply by swipingthe card in a card reader.

Most systems accept various combinations of credit and debit cards.Typically, a grocery store will accept credit cards, debit cards andbank automated teller machine (ATM) cards. Gas station pumps usuallyaccept credit cards, debit cards and sometimes accept ATM cards. Gasstations typically accept universal credit cards, such as VISA, inaddition to accepting proprietary or private label credit cards that areissued by the gasoline vendor. Systems that accept ATM cards oftenaccept cards only from certain banking networks. Thus, if the customer'scard is not issued by a particular banking network, then the point ofsale system will not be able to process the transaction.

One problem with current point of sale systems is the limitation on thetypes of cards that can be used at various locations. Few, if any, pointof sale locations have the capability of accepting and processing alltypes of credit cards and debit cards from every banking network. As aresult, customers may not be able to use the point of sale systems atevery business. Also, if customers are required to have multiple creditand debit cards to use the point of sale systems, then they will alsohave the burden of multiple passwords, PINs and bills.

Additionally, current systems limit customers to credit and debit cards.Consumers are not able to designate other accounts or methods of paymentin addition to their credit or debit card accounts.

Accordingly there is a need in the art for a consumer to have a singlemode for making all point of sale transactions.

Another need in the art is a system which allows consumers to designateany financial system as the source of funds to pay for various point ofsale transactions.

A further need in the art is a system which, in real-time, positivelyidentifies the purchaser as being the proper person authorized to usethe account to which the merchandise is being charged or from which thefunds are being withdrawn.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other problems and needs are addressed by a system and methodin which a customer can complete financial transactions at point of salelocations by using a wireless device, such as a wireless telephone or apager. Once the customer indicates a particular point of sale location,such as a particular cash register and transmits that location over thewireless network, a financial system, using the wireless network,correlates the customer with a transaction amount entered by themerchant at the identified point of sale location. The point of salelocation can be identified by selecting from a series of menus presentedon the wireless display or by entering a unique location identifier onthe wireless device. It will be understood that, while a wirelesstelephone is used to describe one embodiment of the present invention,the wireless device does not have to have voice capability and that anyother two-way wireless device may be used.

When the transaction is to be finalized, the total purchase price ortransaction amount is displayed on the customer's wireless telephonealong with a prompt to accept or reject the transaction. If thetransaction is accepted, then customers are further prompted to enter apassword or PIN to ensure that they are authorized to make thetransaction. This entry of a password or PIN ensures that the personusing the wireless device is authorized to do so.

Upon acceptance of the wireless financial transaction, the financialsystem then charges the transaction amount to a bank account, creditcard or other billing means that has been designated by the customer.Also, the transaction amount is credited to an account designated by themerchant.

It is a feature of the present invention to provide a system and methodfor using a wireless device to complete financial transactions atvarious point of sale locations.

It is another feature of the present invention to provide a system andmethod wherein a customer can designate how a wireless financialtransaction should be billed. The customer can optionally use funds froma designated bank account, charge the transaction to a credit card orhave the transaction billed as part of a wireless or internet serviceprovider's monthly statement. The customer can dynamically change thebilling method on a monthly basis or on a transaction-by-transactionbasis.

It is an additional feature of the present invention to allow thecustomer to specify different payment sources for different types ofwireless financial transactions.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. Itshould be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conceptionand the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basisfor modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the samepurposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by thoseskilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appendedclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system employing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the communication links in asystem employing the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the interaction of variousfinancial entities with the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a series of menus that are presented on a wireless telephonedisplay.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows system 10 having point of sale terminal 11 at location 100.Point of sale terminal 11 has register 12 for indicating the amount of acustomer's purchases. Point of sale terminal 11 is linked to financialgateway 18 via communication link 101. Communication link 101 can beembodied using any means for transmitting information from one locationto another, such as a data bus, local area network (LAN), the internet,a dedicated telephone line, a wireless connection or via the customersown wireless device (not shown).

Location 100 can be any point of sale location, such as a grocery store,gas station, vending machine or even an ATM. Depending upon the type oflocation 100, point of sale terminal 11 will be constructed asappropriate. For example, terminal 11 may be coupled to a cash register,gas pump or vending machine in the same manner in which swipe devicesare currently connected to those machines. Depending upon the particularbusiness, point of sale terminal 11 may use register 12 to reflect afinal transaction cost or terminal 11 may be used to authorize a deviceto dispense a product, such as gasoline from a pump or soda from amachine. When, for example, a customer makes a grocery purchase, system10 will usually know the total transaction cost when the customeraccesses the wireless financial system. On the other hand, if thecustomer is buying gasoline or using a vending machine, the wirelessfinancial system may be used first to authorize the pump (or vendingmachine) to dispense gas (or soda) and then to confirm the totaltransaction amount after the customer stops pumping gas (or has receivedthe desired merchandise). In this manner, a person entering a storecould use his/her wireless device to indicate his/her presence in thestore to the financial transaction system. The user could then authorizepurchases of items as they are taken off the shelf or have each itemcredited to his/her account. For example, a person could use a bar codereader attached to the wireless device, or attached to a shopping cart,to identify specific items and to authorize the purchase of the selectedmerchandise. When the user leaves the store, his/her account would becharged for the items and the merchant would be paid. This arrangementcould eliminate checkout lines in some situations.

Also shown at location 100 is mobile wireless telephone 13 having keypad14, display 15 and antenna 16. Wireless telephone 13 communicates withwireless network 17 via antenna 16 communicating with cell site antenna19. In a preferred embodiment, wireless telephone 13 complies with theIS-136 protocol or other wireless communication standards, such astime-division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access(CDMA) or frequency division multiplexing (FDM). As discussed above,telephone 13 could be any type of wireless communications device, suchas a two-way pager.

Wireless network 17 is connected to financial gateway 18 viacommunication link 102. Like communication link 101, communication link102 can be a data bus, local area network (LAN), dedicated telephoneline, the internet, a wireless connection or any other means oftransmitting data from one location or device to another.

System 10 operates to allow a customer (not shown) to use wirelesstelephone 13 to purchase goods or services at location 100. After thecustomer decides on a purchase, the transaction cost is displayed atlocation 100 on register 12 or alternatively is displayed on display 15of a wireless device. In other situations, the transaction cost cansimply be transmitted to network 17 or financial gateway 18 withoutdisplay. To complete the transaction and accept the purchase price, thecustomer uses wireless telephone 13 to access the appropriate financialapplication within wireless network 17. In a preferred embodiment, thecustomer dials a specific number that corresponds to wireless financialtransactions. The financial application uses information from financialgateway 18 to link a specific wireless telephone 13 to a specificregister 12. If the purchase data is being entered at telephone 13, thenthe financial information is delivered to financial gateway 18 vianetwork 17.

Wireless network 17 can identify wireless telephone 13 by using themobile number identification (MNI) function. A specific customer can beidentified by prompting the customer for a password or PIN. Once thecustomer and/or wireless telephone 13 are identified, system 10 canverify whether the customer is authorized to make wireless financialtransactions, for example, by checking an account balance, verifying thevalidity of a credit card or some other criteria. Then system 10proceeds in certain operating environments to identify the specificlocation 100, terminal 11 and register 12 that is involved in thetransaction.

Wireless network 17 is comprised of a number of individual wirelesscells. Each cell serves a limited geographic area through antenna 19.System 10 can identify the customer's geographic area by determiningwhich antenna 19 is being used during the customers call on wirelesstelephone 13. Once the geographic area is identified, system 10 candetermine the point of sale locations 100 that are within the identifiedarea. The size of the geographic area will vary depending upon wirelessnetwork 17. In most networks, antenna 19 will serve several squaremiles. In this situation, it is likely that many businesses will bewithin the area covered by antenna 19. However, future networks may havethe capability to use pico cells that will serve a very small area. Picocells will allow network 17 to place the customer in a very smallgeographic area and potentially link the customer to a particular pointof sale location without additionally input from the user. Thus, a usermay simply walk into a store, or walk up to a register, and enter a codein his/her wireless device. The system would then link that user to theregister so that the specific transaction data can be entered.

Display 15 on wireless telephone 13 presents the customer with a menu orlist of potential sales locations 100. Of course, this menu could be anaudible message that is broadcast to the listening user on device 13.The list of businesses can be derived using the geographic area ofactive antenna 19. For example, the customer could choose a display 15so that only those point of sale locations within the area served byantenna 19 are displayed. In other cases, display 15 could show allpoint of sale locations. The customer, using telephone 13, selects theappropriate location 100 from the menu on display 15. Depending upon thesize of display 15 and the number of businesses displayed, the customermay have to scroll through one or more menu screens to find a particularpoint of sale location 100. After selecting the proper location, thecustomer is then prompted to identify a specific point of sale terminal11. Again, as discussed above, some or all of these steps can beeliminated as wireless system capabilities are expanded.

In one embodiment, once a particular terminal 11 is identified, thetransaction amount on register 12 is transmitted from terminal 11 tofinancial gateway 18 over connection 101. Financial gateway 18 receivesinformation from all registers 12 on all terminals 11 at all point ofsale locations 100. One of the functions of system 10 is match theproper transaction amount from register 12 with the correct customerusing wireless telephone 13.

After the customer has identified a particular location 100, financialgateway 18 transfers the register 12 value (received as discussed above)to wireless network 17 over link 102. Wireless network 17 hasinformation from the customer regarding the relationship betweentelephone 13 and particular point of sale register 12. Wireless network17 then matches the customer with point of sale register 12 usinginformation from financial gateway 18. The amount shown in register 12is then transmitted to telephone 13 from network 17 via wirelessantennas 19 and 16, for display on screen 15 to the user.

The financial information which was passed from point of sale 11 throughfinancial gateway 18 to wireless network 17 could also be passed usingdifferent routes. For example, point of sale terminal 11 could becapable of wireless transmission (not shown) which would allow register12 information to be transmitted directly to wireless network 17. Thetransaction amount in register 12 could then be passed via link 102 fromwireless network 17 to financial gateway 18 for processing. Theinformation could be passed to gateway 18 via the customer's telephone13. By using well-known speech recognition (not shown) the transactionamount could be spoken into terminal 13 and decoded at switching center17 or at gateway 18.

After wireless network 17 sends the transaction amount to wirelesstelephone 13, the customer can “accept” the displayed amount to completethe sale or “reject” the amount to refuse the transaction. The acceptoption could be coupled with a password or PIN to verify that anauthorized user is making the purchase. The password could vary fordifferent users of telephone 13 or it could be the same for all users oftelephone 13, or it could vary by transaction amount or by purchasetype.

When the customer accepts the amount displayed, financial gateway 18acknowledges to terminal 11 that the transaction has been successfullycompleted. If the customer rejects the transaction, enters the wrongpassword or does not have sufficient funds, then financial gateway 18can inform terminal 11 that the transaction has been canceled. Insituations when point of sale 100 is not used, then certain codes couldbe sent to device 13 which in turn would authorize the user to leave thepremises with his/her purchases.

For completed transactions, financial gateway 18 arranges for payment tothe proprietor of point of sale terminal 11, and arranges for thebilling method specified by the customer who owns telephone 13 or whowas identified by a password or PIN during the transaction. Thesepayments and billings can be accomplished by any of a number of wellknown methods. For example, financial gateway could obtain funds fromany source designated by the customer, such as a credit card, debitcard, bank account or the transaction could appear on the customer'swireless service bill. Once the customer's funds have been identifiedand obtained, then financial gateway 18 would transfer the funds to anaccount or other depository designated by the point of sale proprietor.All these transactions are not shown but are implicit in financialgateway 18.

System 20 in FIG. 2 is a typical internet service provider's network 23connected to a subscriber's personal computer (PC) 21 through connection201. The subscriber can manage, via internet 23, a personal profile ofinformation for wireless financial transaction system 10. The personalprofile would allow a customer to use display 22 to set up and modifyhis/her predetermined preferences for wireless financial transactions.For example, the customer could specify methods of payment, such aswhich credit card or bank account is to be used by financial gateway 18during a wireless financial transaction. The customer could also chooseto have wireless transactions billed as part of the wireless serviceprovider's monthly statement. If customers have established or preferredbusiness relationships, they could also identify preferred vendors orpoint of sale locations 100. This operation could be conducted directlyfrom device 13, either by menu selection or by voice commands.

Financial gateway 18 and wireless network 17 are linked to the customervia internet connections 202 and 203. This allows customers to modifytheir personal profile on PC 21 and then update their records onfinancial gateway 18 and wireless network 17 via internet 23. Using thepersonal profile information, wireless network 17 can select the properinformation to provide to the customer during a wireless financialtransaction. One use of the personal profile would be to select the listof potential locations 100 that are displayed when the customerinitiates a transaction. For example, if the customer has indicated thathe/she prefers to shop at a particular chain of grocery stores or gasstations, then wireless network 17 can select the potential point ofsale locations based upon the customer's preferences. This would allowthe customer to identify a particular point of sale terminal 11 fasterthereby increasing the efficiency of system 10.

The customer's personal profile could also be adjusted based upon thefrequency of use for certain locations. Typically, shoppers use acertain few businesses the majority of the time. For example, they mayshop at the same grocery store or they may use the same neighborhood gasstation every week. Financial gateway 18 or wireless network 17 couldmonitor the statistical use of certain businesses and update customers'personal profiles accordingly. Using this information, the menu of pointof sale locations 100 could list the businesses that the customer usesmost often before listing other businesses in that geographic area.

Financial gateway 18 can continually track the personal profileinformation that is provided by the customer at PC 21 using link 202 tointernet 23. Financial gateway 18 can also manage customers'transactions on a transaction-by-transaction basis using the personalprofile. A memory device or a server (not shown) located at financialgateway 18 could be used to track customer information. Also, financialgateway 18 could use internet 23 to gather information from customers'computer 21 in real-time during a transaction.

For each transaction, financial gateway 18 receives information bothfrom point of sale location 100, such as the transaction amount and thevendor's identity, and from wireless telephone 13, such as thecustomer's identity. The customer's identity is matched to a specificpersonal preference record to determine how the transaction will bebilled. Once wireless network 17 indicates that the transaction has beencompleted properly, the merchant will be paid by one of the variousmethods described by FIG. 3.

In FIG. 3, system 30 shows financial gateway 18 connected to variousentities that may be used for transferring funds during a wirelessfinancial transaction. Financial gateway 18 is connected via link 301 tobanking network 31 which allows financial gateway to verify accountbalances and to transfer funds among customer and business bankaccounts. Credit card clearing house 32 allows financial gateway 18 tobill wireless transactions to customers' credit cards. Wirelessprovider's billing system 33 and internet provider's billing system 34allow financial gateway 18 to bill transactions to the customer'swireless provider or internet provider. These transactions could then bebilled to the customer as part of the providers' monthly statement.Block 35 represents any other financial management institutions whichmay be used to transfer funds as part of a wireless financialtransaction. Communications link 301 can be any means of transferringfinancial information from one location to another.

Customers can set their personal profile to identify the source ofpayment for various transactions. For example, transactions at a grocerystore could be billed to a universal credit card, such as VISA,transactions at a particular gas station could be billed to thatcompany's proprietary or private label credit card and transactions atvending machines could be billed to a bank account for direct reduction.

In another embodiment, the customer can set up a primary payment sourcefor all transactions and a secondary payment source to be used if theprimary source is overdrawn or above a credit limit. For example, thecustomer could designate his bank account as the primary payment source,but if the account balance is below a specified level, then additionalwireless transactions could be billed to a credit card.

FIG. 4 shows a typical series of menus for use in the present invention.In the example shown, a customer desires to purchase gas from aparticular pump. The customer first dials a number to access thewireless financial service application in wireless network 17. Theapplication receives the call and identifies the calling wirelesstelephone using MNI. Alternatively, the application could request anidentification number from the customer. The application then causes aninitial message 400 to be displayed on wireless telephone 13. Message400 may repeat the number of calling telephone 13, as shown, or thecustomer's name so that the caller knows that he/she has been identifiedproperly. In other cases, the display may prompt the customer for apassword or PIN for identification or to verify the caller's authorityto use the financial transaction application.

In addition to identifying the caller, the wireless financialtransaction system determines the caller's geographic location byidentifying cell site antenna 19 which is communicating with wirelesstelephone 13. Display 15 then shows menu 401 to the customer. In apreferred embodiment, menu 401 lists several categories of the point ofsale locations 100 that fall within the geographic area of thecustomer's cell site. In other embodiments, the customer's personalprofile may cause the display to show all the point of sale locations inall categories or in certain categories without regard to whether theyfall within a particular geographic area. These menus, in the preferredembodiment, reside either at switching center 17 or at gateway 18 andare transmitted to device 13.

In the present example, the customer is at a gas station and desires tocomplete a transaction at a particular pump, so the “Gas Stations”category is selected on menu 401. This causes menu 402 to be displayed.The customer then selects a particular chain of gas stations to get menu403 which shows the street addresses for that vendor's gas stations. Theinformation in menu 403 may list a specific street address or it maylist an intersection where a particular gas station is located. It willbe understood that specific locations 100 can be identified in anynumber of ways in addition to the vendor's address.

After identifying a particular gas station, the customer then selectsthe correct gas pump from menu 404. Concurrently, the gas stationprovides information to financial gateway 18 regarding the transactionamounts for the gas provided at each pump. This corresponds to register12 in FIG. 1. Once the customer has identified a specific pump,financial gateway transmits the transaction cost to wireless telephone13. In menu 405, this amount is displayed for the customer and he/she isprompted to accept or reject the transaction by selecting a particularbutton on keypad 14. If the transaction amount is correct and thecustomer accepts the transaction, he/she may be further prompted toenter a PIN or password in menu 406 to verify that he/she is authorizedto make the transaction. Upon entering the correct PIN, the transactionis completed and financial gateway 18 charges the transaction cost tothe account, credit card or other entity specified by the customer'spersonal profile.

The menus described above can be modified to present almost any sequenceof information to the customer. In one embodiment, the customer couldselect “Point of Sale ID” from menu 401. This would present menu 407which prompts the customer for the identifier of a specific point ofsale terminal 11. For example, a unique number assigned to gas pump #3at the gas station selected above, such as 9999. After the customerenters the terminal's identifier, the menu display could jumpimmediately to menu 405 where the customer is shown the transactionamount for that specific point of sale terminal 11 and asked to acceptor reject the transaction. This would reduce the number of menus andincrease the efficiency of system 10.

It will be understood that the above described menu arrangement can alsobe used to locate businesses that are members of the present wirelessfinancial system. For example, if a potential customer needed gas anddesired to make a wireless financial transaction to purchase the gas,then by following the sequence in FIG. 4 to display menu 403, thecustomer would receive a list of nearby gas stations that acceptwireless financial transactions. In other embodiments, menu 403 could bemodified to show all gas stations (or other business categories) in acertain geographic area. If there are no business of a certain categorywithin the potential customer's geographic area, then menu 403 coulddisplay the closest business of that type.

Although the above examples often use grocery stores and gas stations,it will be understood that the present invention can be used with anyretail store or other point of sale location. Furthermore, the presentwireless financial transaction system could be used to pay any bill,such as a mortgage payment, utility bill, tax bill, tuition or otherloan. The vendor, institution or other entity that sends the bill couldparticipate in a wireless financial system by using a unique identifierfor each bill or required payment. The bill or payment that is due couldbe selected by the customer in the same manner that a point of salelocation is selected and the customer could use the personal profile todesignate the source of funds to satisfy the bill or payment obligationthat is due.

The system could be used to keep the user's checkbook, thereby allowingthe user, while at home or while roaming, to pay bills and maintainhis/her financial accounts. In this respect, a linkage to a brokeragehouse could display the user's investments and allow for selling orbuying such investments.

In addition, the system could be used by a customer for comparisonshopping simply by entering an item identifier and the amount and thesystem could respond with other known prices. The system could evendisplay product specifications from a database.

Although the present invention and its advantages have been described indetail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions andalterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A method for controlling transactions using a wireless device in awireless network comprising: transmitting, using a system comprising awireless network mobile switching center and a financial gateway, aplurality of point-of-sale locations to a wireless device to bedisplayed to a user via one or more menus on the wireless device, themenus listing at least one point-of-sale location based upon a currentlocation of the wireless device; receiving, at said system, from thewireless device, a particular point-of-sale location selected by theuser for a desired transaction; obtaining, using said system,transaction amounts for one or more transactions at said particularpoint-of-sale location; correlating, using said system, one of saidtransaction amounts with the user's desired transaction; transmitting,using said system, the correlated transaction amount to the wirelessdevice for display to the user; and charging, using said system, thecorrelated transaction amount to a source of funds identified by theuser to allow completion of the desired transaction.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: receiving, at said system, approval of saidtransaction amount from the user via the wireless device.
 3. The methodof claim 1 wherein the user identifies potential sources of funds beforethe desired transaction occurs by configuring a user profile.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 wherein a source of funds that is to be used for aparticular transaction is selected from the user profile by the userduring the transaction.